[SydPhil] First cfp: Point of View in Memory and Imagery: philosophical and psychological perspectives on perspective, Macquarie Uni, May 2013

[John Sutton]

(apologies for cross-posting; please forward through your networks as
appropriate)

Point of View in Memory and Imagery: philosophical and psychological
perspectives on perspective
Macquarie University, Friday- Saturday, 10-11 May 2013

Overview
This workshop will address perspective-taking in remembering and
imagining. We welcome offers of papers from philosophers and
psychologists, and from related disciplines. We are particularly
interested in proposals which discuss relations between visual or
visuospatial perspective and other kinds of perspective, or which
address interactions between internal and external perspectives on
one’s past, future, or possible actions and experiences.

Background
When I remember my past experiences, I may see the remembered scene
from my original point of view. Alternatively I may see myself in that
remembered scene, as from an observer’s perspective. Likewise, when I
visualize and imagine my future or possible actions, I may adopt
either an internal or ‘own eyes’ perspective, or an external or
‘see-oneself’ perspective on those imagined events. Sometimes, in both
memory and imagery, I can switch perspectives. The availability of
such ‘field’ and ‘observer’ perspectives is a puzzling aspect of the
phenomenology of memory and imagery. It is the subject of concerted
but as yet unintegrated research programs in psychology and philosophy
(Nigro & Neisser 1983; Debus 2007; Rice & Rubin 2009; Libby & Eibach
2011; Goldie 2012 – a select reference list is below). The study of
vantage-points in memory and imagery raises a range of intriguing
questions about self-representation and the body, personality and
identity, emotion and mood, movement and space, narrative and time.

Keynote Speaker
Lisa Libby (Psychology, Ohio State University)

Speakers
Catriona Mackenzie (Philosophy, Macquarie University)
Tony Morris (Sport Science, Victoria University Melbourne)
Michelle Moulds (Psychology, University of New South Wales)
John Sutton (Cognitive Science, Macquarie University)

Call for Papers
We welcome proposals for papers on any aspect of the topic of point of
view in memory and imagery. While we seek coverage of a broad range of
topics, papers should make direct contact with questions about visual
or visuospatial perspective-taking in remembering or imagining.

Deadline for abstracts: February 15, 2013. Abstracts of 500-800 words
should be sent as attachments by February 15, 2013, to John Sutton at
john.sutton at mq.edu.au.
We anticipate scheduling longer and shorter paper sessions. Please
indicate which you would prefer, and whether or not the alternative
would also be acceptable.
Graduate students are encouraged to submit abstracts.

Themes and possible topics include
*Conceptualising perspective-taking in memory and imagery*
  - Observer perspectives and truth in memory
  - Constructive remembering and the causal theory of memory
  - The operationalization and measurement of perspectives in memory and imagery
  - Switching perspectives in imagery and memory
  - The neuroscience of perspective-taking

*Agency, identity, and perspective-taking*
  - Perspective-taking, agency, and future-directed thought
  - Integrating internal and external perspectives on one’s past
  - Perspective-taking and narrative identity
  - Emotion and perspective-taking
  - Perspective-taking in depression and traumatic memory
  - Imagining from the inside: narrative and character in the arts

*Embodiment and perspective-taking*
  - Self-representation and body-representation
  - Visualization and skilled movement, for example in sport and dance
  - Perspectives in spatial cognition and navigation
  - Perspective-taking, gesture, and the body
  - External perspectives in dreaming, and the out-of-body experience

This workshop is organized and sponsored by the Macquarie University
Centre for Agency, Values, and Ethics (http://cave.mq.edu.au/).

For further information contact the organizers, Catriona Mackenzie
(catriona.mackenzie at mq.edu.au) or John Sutton (john.sutton at mq.edu.au).

Select references
- Debus, Dorothea (2007). Perspectives on the past: a study of the
spatial perspectival characteristics of recollective memories. Mind &
Language 22, 173-206.
- Goldie, Peter (2012). The Mess Inside: narrative, emotion, and the
mind. Oxford University Press.
- Kuyken, Willem & Michelle L. Moulds (2009). Remembering as an
observer: how is autobiographical memory retrieval vantage perspective
linked to depression? Memory 17, 624-634.
- Libby, Lisa K. & Richard Eibach (2011). Visual perspective in mental
imagery: A representational tool that functions in judgment, emotion,
and self-insight. In M.P. Zanna & J.M. Olson (Eds.), Advances in
Experimental Social Psychology 44, pp.185-245. Academic Press.
- Mackenzie, Catriona (2007). Imagination, identity, and
self-transformation. In K. Atkins & C. Mackenzie (Eds) Practical
Identity and Narrative Agency, pp.121-145. Routledge.
- Morris, Tony, Michael Spittle, & Anthony P. Watt (2005). Imagery
Perspectives. In Morris, Spittle, & Watt, Imagery in Sport,
pp.127-152. Human Kinetics.
- Nigro, Georgia & Ulric Neisser (1983). Point of view in personal
memories. Cognitive Psychology 15, 467-482.
- Rice, Heather J. & David C. Rubin (2009). I can see it both ways:
first- and third-person visual perspectives at retrieval.
Consciousness and Cognition 18, 877-890.
- Sutton, John (2010). Observer perspective and acentred memory: some
puzzles about point of view in personal memory. Philosophical Studies
148, 27-37.

--
Professor John Sutton
Department of Cognitive Science (http://www.maccs.mq.edu.au/)
Macquarie University, Sydney,
NSW 2109, Australia
Phone: +61 (0)2 9850 4132
Email: john.sutton at mq.edu.au
URL: http://www.johnsutton.net/

Memory Studies journal: http://mss.sagepub.com/